Moritaka Mashiro
Moritaka Mashiro (真城 最高, Mashiro Moritaka) is the main protagonist of the series, Bakuman. He is a determined high-school student trying to make a successful manga and anime adaptation before he's eighteen. He works with classmate Akito Takagi and follows the footsteps of his late, manga-ka (manga artist) uncle, Moritaka Nobuhiro who once loved a classmate (the mother of Azuki Miho) from afar, but never got the chance to tell her so and later died from overwork. Mashiro's dreams are to make a successful manga and marry Azuki. He currently works in Jump with Takagi. Profile Mashiro is fond of his classmate Azuki Miho, who wishes to become a voice actor. To avoid becoming like his uncle, Mashiro accidentally proposes to Miho. She accepts, stating she will marry him after they achieve their dreams. However, they must not see each other until then. Mashiro then decides to team up with another classmate, a talented writer named Akito Takagi, and try to get published and have an anime adaption of the series. He is a talented artist, but is highly dissatisfied with his drawings. He is often called Saikō (サイコー) by Takagi, whom he calls Shujin as they are alternate ways of reading their names. Appearance Mashiro is a medium sized and pretty skinny character. He has long blue hair and is often found sitting like the character L Lawliet of "Death Note" (Hunchback). He tends to wear checkered long sleeves with a t-shirt inside. Death Note was the manga the author and artist of Bakuman wrote before. Personality Mashiro is brave and determined, but can be nervous at times. He is extremely shy when he sees Azuki though it seems to have lessened over time. Volume One Working With Takagi Mashiro and Takagi get along very well. In the beginning, Takagi asks Mashiro to work with him, and together they decide to make a manga. Mashiro and Takagi are nearly always seen together so Mashiro knows everything about Takagi and Takagi Mashiro. After two ideas, Sunglass Pitcher and Double Earth, they decide to write a manga story for Double Earth. Volume Two Akamaru Jump Mashiro and Takagi make a one-shot (50-page first chapter), Money and Intelligence for Akamaru Jump, which eventually gets published to the magazine. It is their first manga to be published. Each of the magazine's stories are rated and they get first place in the early results, but they only get third place in the final (real deal) results. After the drop in the ranking for the manga, Mashiro and Takagi decide to make a manga that is more mainstream (current trend), as opposed to going for a cult hit. Editing Crow Chapter 5 Volume Three Breaking Up Golden Future Cup New Year's Party At the New Year's Party, Mashiro and Takagi are introduced to many mangakas. Some of them are new artists just like Mashiro , for example Hiyamaru and Arai (Who made Otters11 and Cheese Okaki respectively). After dinner and bingo, Mashiro says to a board member that his goal is to make a popular manga that can get no.1, unlike his uncle. Detective Trap's Serialization Moritaka has been working extremely hard while Detective Trap is being serialized. He has been getting less and less sleep and he finally collapses. He was taken to the hospital after that. He is diagnosed with a liver infection which requires surgery. Mashiro wants to keep working while he is in the hospital so that the Trap won't have to go on hiatus, whereas everyone else believes that his first priority should be to get better. Mashiro tries to convince Takagi to bring him his materials, but Takagi decides to call Azuki to see if she can convince him to stop working. Azuki goes to the hospital the next day and begins talking to Mashiro from outside his room. Volume Four Hospitalized Ayuki asks which is more important; manga or her. Mashiro says manga. He is determined to continue drawing manga in the hospital, even though he is not allowed to until his health improves. Eiji, Takagi and Mashiro's mom go to the hospital. Once they leave, their editor comes in and requests him to stop. He says the head has put them both on hiatus. However, when he comes in, he says he will be putting them on hiatus till they graduate from high school (even after they come out of hospital) because of his uncle who died from working too hard on manga. Two of Me, Hitman10, and Future Watch Two of Me, Hitman10, and Future Watch are all stories that Takagi and Mashiro make up. Two of Me and Future Watch are two series they want to write for their editor; one of them comedy and the other one serious. Their editor wants them to write a comedy but Takagi is reluctant because comedy isn't his strong point. They also decide to make a one shot for Manga Treasure which will be judged by Eiji Two of Me Two of me is, as the title suggests, are about two of the same people. They can't decide which one is the real one so they agree that one of them should go to a different environment. That way, they will be different. They drop a pencil and the person it points has to leave. Future Watch The son of an inventor father makes watches that travel to the future. Apparently, if you push the switch on the watch that is set 7 minutes ahead, then you will travel 7 minutes into the future. The son tries it and calls himself from 8 minutes ago. He tells him that he can travel to the future by using the watch. Takagi wants to add battles to Future Watch. As for Two of Me, he wants to make a fantasy world. Hitman10 The final manga they come up with is a gag manga. Hitman ten is about the top ten hitman fighting each other to become number one and receive a billionaire's prize. They main character is one of these hitman. Manga Originally, Mashiro and Takagi work on a cult manga (money and intelligence), but they then plan to make something more mainstream, so they begin work on a detective manga called Detective Trap. It is first submitted for the Golden Cup competition in Weekly Shōnen Jump where it tied for first with Kyoshi Knight. Later it is chosen in the first serialization meeting after the competition for Weekly Shōnen Jump. Its first chapter got third place, its second chapter got 8th place, and its third chapter got 9th place, but after that, it started getting better results. Category:Male Characters Category:Manga Creators